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Saw Star Trek: Into Darkness at the midnight premiere. Overall, I enjoyed it but was very disappointed by one major aspect of the film, however I can't talk about that without spoilers. The performances and chemistry between the actors saved the movie for me.

Also watched Life of Pi last night on DVD. Totally not the movie I was expecting it to be, but still really good and an absolutely beautiful film to look at. Sure I could tell that the tiger was computer-generated, but after a certain point in the movie I simply stopped caring about that because I was so completely engrossed in the story.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

I am currently listening to it now; I do not recall some of the songs (specifically the Jack White track one) in the film. The three bonus tracks are an orchestral version of "Young and Beautiful," plus "Over the Love of You" and "Gatsby Believed in the Green Light." I do like the mix of jazz versions and "current" styles (well, except Jay Z's opening track).

Forgot to mention that Cliegg Lars and his son Owen are in GG; never in the same scene, however. "Bootleggers; they walk like men but they're monsters. I'd break down their speakeasies, but without my leg..."

Finally saw Iron Man 3 tonight. It was the movie's last night in our local theater so I thought I should see it while it was still convenient to do so.

Overall, I liked it more than I thought I would. Although it's kind of weird that just anybody and their girlfriend can wear the suits now. Kind of ruins the specialness of Iron Man and makes Tony Stark somewhat expendable.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

The Raven (1963). The local sci-fi convention had a 50th anniversary screening, and Sarah Karloff did an intro. Been a while since I'd watched this one, and it was fun with a crowd.
Iron Sky. Nazis on the moon! I'd read about this one for a while, saw the trailer when it came out last year. Finally got round to renting it. It was goofy fun.

Argo - I definitely remember these events from my childhood, even though I would have only been 5-6 years old at the time. Names like "Ayatollah Khomeini" and "Shah of Iran" definitely spark some early memories in my brain. I think it was the first major news story that I was old enough to start to comprehend, although I really just remember coming out of it with the understanding that Iran was not a nice country and Canada was our friend. Anyways, about the movie, everything was really well done and the tension could definitely be cut with a knife at times. I usually don't like Ben Affleck in anything, ever, but his bland personality was remarkably effective as a generic "g-man." My only gripe is the amount of foul language in the film that I felt was completely unnecessary. I would love to recommend this movie to more people, but I just can't with that many f-bombs being dropped for no reason whatsoever.

The Baytown Outlaws - you can tell this is a movie that really, really wants to become something of a grassroots, redneck franchise. Kind of like a modern day Dukes of Hazard. It's actually not a bad movie, though, and I found all of the characters pretty likable and the story itself kept me interested as well. However, it felt structured more like an extended pilot for a very violent TV show rather than a truly well-crafted, standalone story. That's not to say I wouldn't watch any sequels that might come out.

Cloud Atlas - first I was interested in seeing this movie, then I wasn't, then I finally decided that I might as well watch it and get it over with. Now that I've watched it, all I can think is, "I'm glad that's over with." This is definitely a movie that thinks it's more intelligent and profound than it actually is. I spent nearly three hours watching 6 completely different movies mashed into one hoping that something would tie them all together at the end and reward me for actually paying attention. Well, turns out the grand message of the movie is given away in the trailer and if you are hoping for something deeper, you're not going to get it. The other thing that kept me watching was morbid curiosity and wondering what kind of freakshow mask they were going to try to pass off as a human face next. I'm sure this movie was a make-up artist's dream come true, but it's difficult to be interested in a film's characters when most of the actors are buried under five pounds of silicone. Overall, I could compare this entire film experience to channel surfing while drunk and trying to reconcile all the different channels into one cohesive story. If it seems like I have a lot to say about a movie I didn't like, it's because I had almost 3 hours to think of all the ways that I hated this pretentious nonsense while I was watching it.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis